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Archive for December, 2009

Questions like, “But he went to church with me as a boy. How can he be a killer now? No, no, no..”

CBC Radio was reporting on the story this morning and that was pretty much all a childhood friend of Kevin Gregson had to say. He’s the RCMP officer who stabbed and killed an Ottawa city police officer and was already in hot water for knife threats against a Mormon bishop here in Saskatchewan. This is certainly not a typical cop death.

In April 2007, Gregson pleaded guilty in a Regina court to uttering a death threat against a Mormon bishop, but received a conditional discharge when his lawyer persuaded the judge that cysts in Gregson’s brain had contributed to his behaviour.

The court heard that Gregson was off duty when he approached Bishop Robert Howie about receiving what’s called a “temple recommend,” which allows members to enter a Mormon temple for religious ceremonies.

When the bishop told Gregson he had additional spiritual work to do before he could receive the recommendation, Gregson became angry and said: “I’m a cop, I’m not like the rest of you,” according to court documents.

Gregson then pulled out a knife and said, “You don’t know how many ways I’ve been taught to kill.”

After he calmed down, Gregson left the bishop’s office complaining about feeling “messed up” in his head, court heard.

Several months after that incident, Gregson was diagnosed with cysts in his brain. He has since had brain surgery and been under suspension without pay from his position at the RCMP’s Regina headquarters.

Wrong. While large centres like Walmart can budget (somewhat) for shrinkage, and grocery chains toss a lot of food into dumpsters once it’s past its sell-by date, significant loss of merchandise will hurt a company eventually, causing increased prices to make up for losses, meaning everyone who wants to shop there suffers.

The Rev Tim Jones said in his Sunday sermon that stealing from successful shops was preferable to burglary, robbery or prostitution.

He told parishioners it would not break the eighth commandment ‘thou shalt not steal’ because it ‘is permissible for those who are in desperate situations to take food that they might not starve’.

But his advice was roundly condemned by police and the local Tory MP. Father Jones, 42, was discussing Mary and the birth of Jesus when he went on to the subject of how poor and vulnerable people cope in the run-up to Christmas.

‘My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift,’ he told his stunned congregation at St Lawrence and St Hilda in York.

‘I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither.

‘I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices.

Which will lead to even more theft once the prices get high enough to “justify” it. What ridiculous advice this is. And yet, I can see why he’d peddle it as a better alternative than other ways to make money illegally. Best of bad choices, I suppose.

Apparently, not everyone shares this idea. With the recession, shoplifting is on the rise, according to booksellers. At BookPeople in Austin, Tex., the rate of theft has increased to approximately one book per hour. I asked Steve Bercu, BookPeople’s owner, what the most frequently stolen title was.

“The Bible,” he said, without pausing.

Apparently the thieves have not yet read the “Thou shalt not steal” part — or maybe they believe that Bibles don’t need to be paid for. “Some people think the word of God should be free,” Bercu said. As it turns out, Bibles are snatched even at the Parable Christian Store in Springfield, Ore., the manager told me, despite the fact that if a person asks for a Bible, they’ll be given a copy without charge.

That’s interesting.

So, how are lines drawn? Is stealing a sin or not? May as well hang for a sheep as a lamb? Everything’s fine until you get caught, I suppose. I’d lose my job in a heartbeat if I got caught shoplifting.

I don’t care for the consumer culture we live in much either, but still – until you have the money to buy it, you can’t have it. And don’t think a credit card will make everything easier, either. That’s a fast track to substantial debt if you buy knowing you’ll never have the money in hand to pay it all off.

I got this holiday meme (slightly modified) from ADKOB friend Sew Ducky! . For those of you who celebrate Christmas, here are some questions. Pass this on to others who might enjoy them too! Read the rest of this entry »